Purple Spiral Taro Mooncake ~ Natural Colour

I just made these out of curiosity.

They didn't really turn out well, as I find the crust to be not well baked. And there's no flaky effect.
So, there's no need to share the recipe.

But I'd like to share with you, how I got my purple streaks, without the use of any artificial food colouring.

Traditional Mooncake

My first attempt at making mooncakes. So bear with me, the mooncakes don't look perfect.
I don't bake everything perfectly each time and I'm not shy to admit it.

It's ok, it's a been there, done that. And for those of you who have been asking me whether I have mooncake recipes, here you go.
I don't know if I'll make more mooncakes, as in baked mooncakes, real mooncakes as I seriously don't enjoy eating a lump of filling. It's just a personal thing.

Salted Egg Fried Rice - Rice Week #3

Just have this crazy idea of using salted egg to fry rice. Wonder if it'll give it that wonderful eggy aroma that it gives to chicken, crab and prawns.

Golden Skin Tri-Colour Egg - CNY week #1

Happy Chinese New Year to all!! Still many days of celebration to go...

It's been 10 days of rest. I was feeling a bit lazy to start posting again. Haha, but can't lose the momentum, once it slows down, then it'll just get slower and slower. Anyway, here I am again.

I made this dish for this year's reunion dinner. This is not my creation. I first tasted tricolour steamed egg in restaurants, and it's usualy silky smooth, like silken tofu, or steamed egg. But this version that I tasted in a Japanese buffet in Sunway Giza is very different. It's sliced and firm. Mike fell in love with it. So, how can I not recreate something that my hubby loves. But I'm sure the restaurant didn't use soy milk for this. I purposely made a small amount of soy milk for this dish so that it'll create a firmer texture.



Golden Skin Tri-Colour Egg
Recipe source: Wendyywy

Ingredients

Base layer
3 salted egg whites
2 egg whites
200ml unsweetened soy milk (check volume of eggs whites before putting in)
3 century eggs

Golden skin layer
3 salted egg yolks (steamed and mashed)
2 egg yolks
1 egg
50ml unsweetened soy milk (check volume of eggs whites before putting in)

Method:
1. Prepare base layer. Coarsely chop century eggs.
2. Mix salted egg whites and egg whites. Measure volume. Put in equal amounts of soy milk.
3. Prepare golden skin. Mix egg yolks with egg. Measure volume and put in soy milk. The soy milk should be 50% of the egg volume.
4. Mash steamed salted egg yolks and mix with egg yolk mixture. Pour mixture into a strainer and mash balance of salted egg yolks in strainer. Pour egg mixture over strainer (with the egg yolks that can’t pass by the strainer) and strain again, stirring all the while to facilitate the yolks to pass the strainer.
5. Line a 6X6 steaming dish with cling wrap for microwave cooking(or any heat safe cling wrap). Prepare your steaming vessel (wok or ur steamer)
6. When steaming water has come to a boil, mix prepared egg whites with chopped century eggs and pour into steaming dish.
7. Cover with lid and steam on medium low heat for 5 minutes or until surface sets but still wobbly.
8. Gently pour in egg yolk mixture and cover with lid again.
9. Turn heat to low and steam for another 10-15 minutes until surface sets.

There were leftovers of this dish after the dinner, and Mike's aunts prepared some porridge the next day with leftover roasted chicken and threw in these as well. Yummylicious!

Salted Egg White Tofu

Why waste the salted egg whites? Salted eggs are no longer as salty as yonder years. I remember when I was a kid, I’d squince when I eat the salted egg whites and would only take yolks.
But the salted eggs nowadays seem to have lost their salt. Not that salty, but still salty.

Many months back, some time around Chinese New Year, I was trying to use up 30 egg whites after making a Prune Layered Cake. A blogger friend, SK Fong suggested I make tofu with egg whites. Yeah, rather than making yellowish tofu, egg whites are perfect to retain the whiteness of the soy milk.

So, what I did with the 3 salted egg whites from the salted egg yolk chicken, is to make this into a steamed tofu dish. But then again, please taste the egg whites before you embark on this. Add additional regular eggs if your egg whites are salty and add more soy milk. Just keep the ratio of egg to soy milk, 1:2 and you’ll be fine.


Salted Egg White Tofu
Recipe source: Wendyywy, inspired by SKFong

3 salted egg whites, about ½ cup
1 cup unsweetened soy milk (actually can use 300ml, 250ml is quite firm)
1 sprig spring onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp cooking oil
2 drops of sesame oil

1. Prepare steamer and bring water to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, combine egg whites with soy milk, whisk to combine.
3. Put cooking oil and sesame oil in steaming dish. Rub with fingers or brush so that the dish will be well oiled.
4. Pour the egg white mixture into prepared dish and sprinkle sliced spring onions onto the egg.
5. Steam on medium low heat(lid on) for 10 minutes or until set. Touch the center of the tofu, if it has turned solid and nothing sticks to your fingers, it’s done.

Verdict: Somehow this steamed tofu is much firmer than my other homemade egg tofu. But it's slightly crunchy, like egg whites usually are. It could be due to the eggs being just egg whites and not whole eggs. Egg whites have better coagulating effect than yolks. The spring onions added a wonderful aroma to the tofu. Delicious!

Salted Egg Yolk Chicken

A very sinful chicken. 3 salted duck egg yolks and butter and deep fried chicken!!!! Prepare less sinful dishes to go with this to balance up your meal.

You may think, what is this woman cooking such unhealthy stuff to her family??? Well, I don’t cook this everyday!!!! So what??? I don’t believe in cutting off everything totally. I believe in moderation.
I may eat KFC today and salad tomorrow. It’s when you eat rich and oily foods everyday that’s going to put a burden on your body. But depriving the body totally of such GOOOOOD stuff is so evil.

But then again, I’m not referring to those who have health problems. So don’t bombard me with comments scolding me. What you put on your plate and in your mouth is your own choice. It’s me being evil to deprive myself.

You may also think 3 salted egg yolks???? Gosh!!!! The salted egg taste is just nice. I’ve seen on cooking shows that restaurants use 6 egg yolks for one plate of crab. SIX!!!!!!!!
So, 3 yolks is just nice here.

Salted Egg Yolk Chicken
Recipe Source: Wendyywy

(A)
350gm boneless whole chicken leg, cut into 1 inch thick large slices
1/3 tsp salt
Pepper
1 egg white
1 cup tapioca starch
Oil for deep frying

Dry chicken properly. Mix chicken with salt and pepper. Then put in egg white. Marinate for half an hour, at least. Coat whole pieces of chicken with tapioca starch. Dust off extra starch.
Deep fry chicken pieces until golden and crispy.

2 Tbsp butter
2 sprigs curry leaves, remove from stem, leaves only
1 or 2 bird’s eye chilli, sliced
3 salted egg yolks, steamed and mashed
2 Tbsp evaporated milk
1 tsp oil
1/3 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar

In wok, on medium heat , put in oil and butter. When butter has melted, put in sliced chilli and curry leaves. When they are fragrant, put in mashed egg yolks, with spatula, try to flatten the yolks into the oil and cook until it look bubbly and fragrant (won’t take long). Turn heat to low and put in milk, salt and sugar. Turn heat to high and and cook until very bubbly. Put in chicken and toss until well coated.


So, what did I do with the balance of salted egg whites?? Check out my next post tomorrow :)

Goji Soup with Salted Duck Egg

We are familiar with goji berries or wolfberries. But do you know that the Gau Gei soup are made with the leaves of the goji berry plant? It’s just that the goji plant flowers but never fruits here.

Goji plants are very easy to plant. You can just use the stems of the ones you bought. After you’ve taken off the leaves for the soup, tuck that stem into some soil, in a area with good light, water it twice a day, and later on you’ll have goji leaves sprouting out. Give it more time, and then it’ll grow into a bush. My mom did that once, but it didn’t take long for us to eat off the plant : ) We were consuming faster than it could grow.

When I was 13, I did marketing for mom. Everyday she’ll tell me what to buy and which stall to go to. And 2 months after that, she no longer told me what to buy and I’ll decide by myself. One day, I bought these goji stalks and the lady who sold me them told me, the soup is best made with salted egg, not regular chicken eggs.

So now, may I present to you Goji Soup with salted duck egg.

180gm goji stalks (pluck only the leaves, discard the stems) Caution: Stems are thorny
1 salted egg (break the egg into a bowl, cut the yolk into small pieces, put the yolk back into the whites)
1 Tbsp wolfberries/goji berries
1/3 cup dried anchovies, rinsed
1 tsp oil
1L water
Salt to taste

1. Put anchovies into saucepan/wok and put in oil. Let it fry for a while. Put in water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Strain the anchovy stock. Return stock to pot. (You can skip step 1 and 2 if you prefer to use stock cubes)
3. Bring stock to a boil, with a ladle in one hand and the salted egg in another hand, pour the salted egg into the pot with the other hand stirring so that the egg will not clump together.
4. Now, taste the soup. If it’s not salty enough, add in salt. Do not season before the salted egg, because you won’t know how salty the egg will be.
5. Put in goji berries. Then the goji leaves. Stir and bring back to a boil.
6. Remove from heat and ladle into bowl to serve.

I wonder how do you clean those dirty looking salted duck eggs? Rinse the while thing under running water??? Or just rub it off with bare hands??? I always rub off the dirt before washing in a "wanted to throw away" plastic bag. And If you have a garden, rinse the egg there, so that the dirt won't clog your sink.

Cantonese Rice Dumpling 广东咸肉粽

It's almost Duan Wu Jie again!

This time I made the real Cantonese version of savoury rice dumpling.
Just the way Grandaunty used to make.
Cantonese Rice dumpling doens't use soy sauce in its rice, and neither it is fried.
If u want to make it easier to wrap, u can stir fry it a while to make it slightly sticky, but bear in mind, no soy sauces. It's fair and much softer than the Hokkien version of which the rice is stir fried, therefore, can be packed real tight.

(A)
2kg glutinous rice
2 Tbsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 shallots , chopped
Half cup oil

Soak rice at least 3 hours, or overnight. Drain well. Fry shallot in oil until slightly golden and fragrant. Mix shallot oil, rice, salt and sugar together.

(B)
600gm peeled mung beans
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar

Soak mung beans for at least 4 hours or overnight. Drain well and mix with salt and sugar. Leave to marinate for 1 hour or more.
** U can mix this with rice after marinating. Or use it on its own as filling.

(C)
1kg pork belly, no skin
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp light soy sauce
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 heaped tsp 5 spice powder
good dash of pepper

Mix everything together and marinate at least overnight. Best 2-3 days.

(D)
24 salted egg yolks, halved
48 pcs Chinese mushrooms, sliced
Soaked and washed large bamboo leaves
Soaked grass strands or cotton parcel strings for tying the dumplings

Method to wrap: Read my Bak Zhang recipe

This year din make gan sui joong with fillings, cos my mom just made a big pot of yummy kaya So I made plain ones to eat with "Mui Che Kayeang".

Video on how to wrap(updated 6/6/13)

Bak Chang (Savoury Rice Dumplings) 咸肉粽

All rice dumplings in Mandarin are called Zongzi.

I'm making savoury meat dumplings. Hokkiens call it Bak Chang, Cantonese call it Harm Yook Joong... other dialects.. no idea

I dunno whether this is cantonese style, hokkien or hakka...
But u can check the differences here at this prominent food site in Malaysia

My grandaunt came from Panyu, Guangdong province made white coloured savoury joongs, with pork, mung beans and mushrooms as fillings. She doens't put salty egg due to $$$, she finds it wasteful to throw away the whites. Hers was damn good, but I never knew how to do the seasoning... No fried shallots and stuff.. but very fragrant and yummy.

My maternal grandma of Kwongsi descent, made white joongs with soaked black eye peas and pork. She added sodium benzoate to hers and mom said it lasted for weeks w/o referigeration.

When I was in Form 6, during duan wu jie season, a bunch of us will bring a few joongs and a spoon. When it's time for break, we'll open up our joongs, each holding a spoon, will be digging into each other's parcels. It's such fun... The way our mothers did the joongs are quite similiar, except for Yoke Waie's (with peanuts, loads of garlic pips and pork)

This is the way I make it.. with marinated pork, precooked black eye peas, fried garlic pips, shitake mushrooms, chestnuts, salted egg yolks and of course, fragrant lightly fried glutinous rice. The fried garlic pips thingy came from eating Yoke Waie's mother's joongs..

It differs a bit from joongs made from other parts of Malaysia, the black eye peas are precooked and seasoned.... It's the way it's done in Kampar, Ipoh and other towns nearby.. but not Kuala Kangsar (which happens to be just 1/2 hr from Ipoh)

My Step by Step Bak Zhang recipe

Main ingredients to buy:

1 kg pork belly

50 pcs dried chestnuts

25 salted duck eggs

Dried Shitake Mushrooms

5 bulbs of garlic

600gm black eye peas

100 gm dried shrimp

300gm shallots

2kg glutinous rice

Preparation:

Marinated Pork Belly

Cut pork belly (w/o skin) into 50+ pieces

Add in 2 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce(depends on how dark the sauce is), 2 Tbsp light soy sauce, 1 Tbsp 5 spice powder.

Mix well and marinate in the fridge for at least 8 hours, best for 2-3 days.

Black Eye Peas

Soak peas overnight. Drain.

Chop finely 3/4 cup shallots

Wash dried shirmp.

Heat a heavy bottomed pot and put in 3/4 cup oil.

Saute shallots until almost golden, add in dried shrimps and fry until very fragrant.

Put in black eye peas and fry for a while.

Put in water enough to cover peas and put in 2 Tbsp sugar, 1 1/2 Tbsp salt (adjust accordingly, dried shrimpsmay have various degrees of saltiness), 4 Tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tsp pepper powder.

Simmer until 90% dry and peas are soft.

Let cool down a bit.

Chestnuts

Soak chestnuts the night before.

By using a sharp slim object (a small knife or skewer), remove membrane bits in slits.

Salted duck eggs

Clean egg shells.

Seperate yolks from whites.

Retain only yolks and cut into halves.

Dried Shitake Mushrooms (50 portions)

Soak mushrooms and prepare 50 pieces of it.

If mushroom is about the size of an oreo, soaking 25 will be enough. If dried mushrooms are as big as a marie biscuit, 13 mushrooms will be sufficient.

Garlic

Peel pips of garlic carefully.

Wash and dry garlic.

Fry in oil until golden. You may do this using the oil to fry the rice.

Savoury Glutinous Rice

Soak Rice for at least 2 hours.

Drain rice in a big colander.

Finely chop 1 cup shallots and 2 pips of garlic.

Heat wok and put in 1 cup cooking oil. (at this point u may fry the whole garlic pips first)

Saute chopped shallots and chopped garlic until fragrant and 90% golden. Put in 2 Tbsp salt.

Put in drained rice and mix it evenly with the fragrant oil.

Add in 4 Tbsp light soy sauce and 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce.
Continue to fry rice until slightly sticky.

Assembly:

Mix rice with black eye peas (I prefer it this way to avoid having more of either at the end)

Fold bamboo leave into a cone.

Put in 1 Tbsp of rice pea mixture. Use spoon to lightly press.

Put in 1 pc mushroom, 1 pc marinated por, 1 pc chestnut, 1 fried garlic pip, and 1/2 egg yolk.

Top up with 2 Tbsp rice pea mixture. Using hands to firmly pack rice.

Fold in the bamboo leaves.

Tie with soaked grass strands or rafia strings.

Prepare all dumplings.

Cooking

Cook in boiling water for 2 hours and remove from water inmmediately while still hot and hang up to air dry for 1 hour.



Yummy, yummy, yummy!! My hubby eats 2 at one go... minimum..

Video on how to wrap (updated 6/6/13)